WELCOME page 1
Where Is Everybody?
Thousands leave town for end-of-the-year vacation.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
cl
ing, ring, ring, ring, ring.
Sound familiar?
To those Detroiters not
fortunate enough to fly
south during the holiday break,
actually getting ahold of some-
one, either at work or at home,
was seemingly more difficult this
week than in weeks past.
In the metropolitan area, thou-
sands of residents of all faiths left
the state for the sand on the
beaches of Florida, the snows on
the slopes of Colorado or the
warmth of distant family mem-
bers' homes.
Closed workplaces forced some
to take off for the holiday. The
largest private employers
in the Detroit metropoli-
tan area, the auto compa-
nies, were closed the week
before Christmas and re-
mained closed until this
week.
Some individuals used
unspent vacation time
to take family trips. With
all of the public schools
and many Jewish day
schools closed, parents
took advantage of resorts
offering reduced group
rates. One of the other ma-
jor breaks during the
school year falls around
Passover, a more expen-
sive and inconvenient time
for family getaways.
Statistics gathered by
the Florida Bureau of
Tourism indicated a recent
drop in vacationers traveling to
the state. Figures for December
1992 showed 3,432,454 people
vacationed there compared to
3,171,155 in December 1993, a
7.6 percent drop.
A statistician said early re-
turns for 1994 show a slight in-
crease over last year's. No officials
could be reached for comment,
however; they were all on vaca-
tion.
The absence presented chal-
lenges to the local Jewish com-
munity.
Attendance at synagogue ser-
vices was down for the past two
weekends, in some areas due to
vacationing members. Rabbi
David Nelson of Congregation
Beth Shalom said there was a
barely noticeable drop in the
number of people at Saturday
services.
"But each soul is important to
us," he said.
The Birmingham Temple was
the only one to cancel services
this past weekend. Marilyn
Rowens, ceremonial director and
madrikha, said that the temple
building was open and would
provide its members with emer-
gency services like funerals, but
no Friday night observance was
held.
"We will be available for our
members," Ms. Rowens said,
adding that temple leaders would
fill the needs since Rabbi Sher-
win Wine was out of town for the
weekend. "We have had services
in the past but there was always
a low turnout."
The business community suf-
fered as well. With scaled-back
staffs, many found it difficult to
get anything completed.
While some
businesses
struggled, those
catering to
vacationers
prospered.
Regina Goldstein, owner of
Goldstein's Travel in Southfield,
said many of her employees were
on a holiday break when business
unexpectedly picked up this
week. While she was able to meet
all of her customers' requests, it
was stressful at times.
"It is usually a waste of time to
be open during the Christmas
holiday," Ms. Goldstein said. "But
from the moment we walked in,
we were busy. It didn't stop."
Michigan State Police report-
ed a slowdown in business. Few-
er problems on local highways
were due in part to mild weath-
er but mostly because of de-
creased traffic volume.
"The kids are out of school and
people are on vacation at this
time. Traffic is usually down at
this time of year," said Sgt.
Richard Rule of the Michigan,
State Police post in Northville.
"It has been nice the past couple
of weeks. We have been pretty
lucky."
Other businesses catering to
vacationers prospered.
Kennels were at or near ca-
pacity for both the Christmas and
New Year's weekends.
Jenny Nuckolls of the Animal
Hospital Maple Orchard theo-
rized that dog and cat owners
must feel better about the econ-
omy since not nearly as many left
their animals for boarding last
year.
"We are just a few off from be-
ing full but by tomorrow and all
weekend we will be full," she said
last week. "People feel good
enough about their finances to go
on vacation again."
For Michael Chayet of AAA
Management, business was
up 400 percent over the past
two weekends. The local house-
watching business usually claims
four customers a week but was
up to 17 this past week.
"We got a lot of calls two or
three weeks ago," Mr. Chayet
said. "We are busy but we didn't
have to turn anyone away." Cl
Correction
In the Dec. 30 Editor's Note-
book, the title Lord's Prayer
was mistakenly used instead
of Psalm 23.
Malka Breyter: Taking care of her family's arrival.
Resettlement Service, agreeing
to meet the newcomers at the air-
port and help find them an apart-
ment close to Jewish Vocational
Service, where they will receive
assistance finding jobs and pur-
chasing items such as clothing
and household goods.
In Russia, forms must also be
filled out. Paperwork goes to a
processing center in Washington
and typically, within 18-20
months, the family is given a case
number.
Once a number is assigned,
another three to four months go
by before an invitation for an in-
terview at the embassy in
Moscow is scheduled. During the
interview, the family is asked
why it wishes to live in the Unit-
ed States. If the government ap-
proves, as it does in a majority of
cases, refugee status is granted.
Within another four to five
months, the family arrives in the
United States.
Ms. Breyter, who came with
her son and daughter and their
families, no longer will send pack-
ages to Russia every other
month. Before her cousins left,
she sent them food, clothing and
medicine. In her letters, she de-
scribed life in America and talked
about her children and grand-
children.
"In their letters, they would
ask me what they needed to
bring," Ms. Breyter said. "I told
them that to succeed, they need
to know English and learn how
to drive a car. They told me they
were working on both."
In the days to come, the fam-
ily will meet with Lenna Israe-
tel, their resettlement counselor,
who has a four-month budget for
them. The money comes from
Ms. Breyter's required contribu-
tion and $300 from the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan De-
troit.
Ms. Israetel also will speak to
the New Americans about car
insurance and banks and
provide them with information
on what the Jewish community
has to offer. The family will learn
about taking English-as-a-sec-
ond-language classes and the job
placement services offered at
JVS.
Initially, caseworkers encour-
age clients to take whatever job
they can get.
"It doesn't matter what they
did in Russia," caseworker
Bronya Spektor said. "It's im-
portant for them to be self-suffi-
cient, and it's hard when you
don't know the language. At a lat-
er time, they can find another
job."
In 1994,
Resettlement
Service helped 529
people make the
transition to Detroit.
Families also receive informa-
tion about Hebrew Free Loan, a
three-year general membership
to the Jewish Community Cen-
ter and free health screenings at
Sinai Hospital. They get copies
of Welcome to Jewish Detroit, a
Bilingual Handbook for New
Americans, discussing American
laws, local Jewish life and edu-
cation opportunities. The hand-
book shows New Americans how
to mail a letter, make a phone
call, write a check and protect
personal safety.
"It's a hard process to change
everything in their lives, but in
this country a person can achieve
what he deserves," Ms. Spektor
said. "It just takes time."